Apart in the Dark: Novellas

📚 Book Review 📚- Apart in the Dark By Ania Ahlborn @aniaahlborn- Book Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Two novellas, one thrilling and engaging, and the other wonderfully creepy. Ania Ahlborn didn’t disappoint in this one. Both stories were amazing!! “The Pretty Ones” - Follows Nell Sullivan around during the Son of Sam killing spree that haunts New York in the 1970’s. This felt so real with raw human emotions, obsession, and jealousy. Nell Sullivan, longs to be a part of the “pretty girls”. She gets the attention of one of the “prettier girls” and thinks she’s finally made a BFF. When Nell is slighted by her new “friend”, a darkness inside of her releases. Soon another killer is on the loose. A psychological thriller with a major twist, I love this one.“I Call Upon Thee” - Is filled with horror, both human and paranormal. Overall, it keeps you guessing until the very end. This one started off with a bang! As Maggie, the main character is pretty normal. She comes from a normal family. Living a normal life. Her gothy sister, loves tormenting her. One birthday and one purchase, changes Maggie’s life forever. The horror and fear that Maggie faces is something even the readers can feel. Overall, this was an excellent spooky story. The strongest of the two. I wasn’t able to put this one down thankfully. It truly highlights Ania writing in a great light. A novella stories that are the perfect spooky time read. And the perfect introduction to Ania Ahlborn. Can’t say enough good things about both stories. Ever since, I was younger I’ve been into the “Son of Sam” Thank you ESPN “ The Bronx is Burning.” Ania, was the first author to put the serial killer reign into light. Plus, you can’t go wrong with a good ghost story as well! Why doesn’t anybody ever talk about this?Can’t recommend this enough however.Thank you to the seller for this terrific book. Was in the very best condition too.

I was so excited to read this book and it did not disappoint! Ania Ahlborn did an amazing job to bring about feelings of dread from the very first lines of her book.The first story, The Pretty Ones, brings us to New York during the Son of Sam era. You are introduced to plain-jane, mousey, Nell, who lives with her mute but oppressive brother. Nell longs to be a part of the “pretty girls”. One day she gets the attention of one of the “prettier girls” and thinks she’s finally made a BFF. When Nell is slighted by this new “friend”, a darkness releases itself and a killer is on the loose. Nell’s character slowly unleashes a torrent of obsession, jealousy, and a darkness that can be felt through each line of the story. The Pretty Ones is a psychological thriller filled with raw, human emotion, murder and a major twist!The next story, I Call Upon Thee, is a thriller of a different kind. Maggie grows up fairly normal in Savannah, Georgia. She has a pretty normal family except for her older, gothy sister, who loves tormenting Maggie with creepy cemetery ghost stories. Maggie begins to feel a pull to one of her sister’s stories which sets her on a dangerous path. Things begin to escalate when she decides to make a purchase on her twelfth birthday that will change her life forever. The horror and fear Maggie faces can be felt to your core as you read along with her. I Call Upon Thee is filled with horror, both human and paranormal. This story keeps you guessing until the end.

Apart In The DarkAnia Alborn / Horror/ Gallery Books/Simon and SchusterTHE PRETTY ONESNew York, 1977. The sweltering height of the Summer of Sam. The entire city is gripped with fear, but all Nell Sullivan worries about is whether or not she’ll ever make a friend. The self-proclaimed “Plain Jane” does her best to fit in with the girls at work, but Nell’s brother, Barrett, assures her that she’ll never be like them. When Nell manages to finally garner some much-yearned-for attention, the unthinkable happens to her newfound friend. The office pool blames Son of Sam, but Nell knows the awful truth…because doing the devil’s work is easy when there’s already a serial killer on the loose.First and foremost I want to say that I love every word Ania Ahlborn has ever written. She is the undisputed queen of scaring -the- wholly-shit-of-you horror. These two novellas are no exception.The Pretty Ones gave me a feeling of always being watched. That cold chill of someones heavy stare on your back that makes your hair stand up. I thought, as will you, that I knew how this story was going end but as usual with Ania it took a left turn that jerked me so fast that a flurry of foul words flew from my lips. I did not see that ending coming at all! I loved that this story was to the point and didn’t delve to deep into the friends lives that Nell was attempting to garner attention from. It focused on the brother and sister bond between Nell and Barrett. Barrett always being Nells protector and always giving encouragement to his awkward sister. This novella is fast paced and laced with the kind of creepy only Ania can bring to a character.I CALL UPON THEEMaggie Olsen had a pretty ordinary childhood—swimming and sleepovers, movie nights and dad jokes. And then there were the other things…the darker things…the shadow that followed her home from the cemetery and settled into the corners of her home, refusing to let her grow up in peace. Now, after three years away from the place she’s convinced she inadvertently haunted, and after yet another family tragedy strikes, Maggie is forced to return to the sweltering heat of a Savannah summer to come to terms with her past. All along, she’s been telling herself, it was just in your head, and she nearly convinces herself that she’d imagined it all. But the moment Maggie steps into the foyer of her family home, she knows. The darkness is still here. And it’s been waiting for Maggie’s return….This novella literally had me bouncing between tears and fear, I have yet to ever read a horror story that even remotely stirred the emotions in me that this story did. This story is riveting and has a foreboding about it that shows no mercy through the entire tale. From cemeteries to Ouija boards to an author’s note that will leave your mind staggering this story has everything you could ever want in a horror tale. This novella takes its time and gets right up under your skin. It begins disguised as a young girl who spends her time listening to music, swimming, and riding bikes to a young girl who is fighting for her family, her home and herself. I have read everything that Ania has published and I have to say that this story is my all time favorite. Not because the story is absolutely terrifying or that its brilliantly written but because of the gift you get at the end of this story, the authors note. I found myself in tears and in absolute shock at what Ania reveals to us. I will remind you right now that if you read this book, and you definitely should, DO NOT skip the authors note at the end! I give the book 5 stars and I recommend you get this book now!5/4/18

I loved THE PRETTY ONES & liked I CALL UPON THEE.